Lacy's Shotokan Karate - Texarkana, TX

Aliveness:
10

Equipment:
3

Gym Size:
7

Atmosphere/Attitude:
4

Striking Instruction:
7

Grappling Instruction:
6

Weapons Instruction:
1

Here is his description of himself directly from his website.

"Our dojo is led by master instructor Wayland D. Lacy. Through Training with various instructors, such as Takayuki Mikami, Rodney Tooley and He Young Kimm, Hanshi Wayland Lacy has earned a 7th degree Black Belt in Shotokan Karate, 3rd degree Black Belt in Kuk Sool Won Hapkido and Shorin Ryu Karate and a 2nd degree Black Belt in Kobujutsu (weapons). As a competitor Dr. Lacy was always rated in the “top ten” of the nations fighters, having won over 130 tournaments in Kumite and/or Kata. Three years in a row, Dr. Lacy was rated the #1 fighter in the nation and was crowned “National Champion.” Twice he climbed to #3 in the world ranking. He has been awarded the nations “top competitor award” and the nations “outstanding instructor award” by the United States Karate Association.

In 2005, Dr. Lacy was inducted into the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame and awarded an honorary Doctorate in Asian Studies. In 2006, he was inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame and awarded the title of Shotokan Grand Master of the Year. In 2007, Dr. Lacy was again inducted into the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame. Dr. Lacy was recognized as the founder of Tokubetsu Karate and was promoted to 10th degree Black Belt and named to the prestigious Soke Council.

Dr. Lacy is Internationally known for conducting seminars in Mexico and Central America. Some of his seminars have included teaching self-defense to the Honduran Special Forces, Panamanian Defense Groups, the Mexican Army and Mexican Police forces."

Here are the facts as I can find them...

Takayuki Mikami (wikipedia.org/wiki/Takayuki_Mikami) is a legend in the Shotokan community. He is a leader in the Southern Region for JKA. He personally oversees all of the testing at all dojos that are part of his group. I never saw him during my period at this Dojo.

Dr He-Young Kimm is one of the greatest Hapkido masters that the US has ever known. There is only one point in history where these two masters were in roughly the same place at the same time. A person would have to be in Southern Louisiana in the late 1960's. Dr. Lacy says that he was in Vietnam with the US Army\101st Airborne during this period.

I haven't been able to find anything on his tournament history.

The World Martial Arts Hall of Fame has never heard of him per their website.

USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame 2006 Shotokan Grand Master of the Year was Rai W. Finch from Arizona (unitedstatesmartialartshalloffame.com/2006_Inductees.pdf)

The Soke Council has never heard of him per their website. They have no mention of "Tokubetsu Karate".

He has used the term Shihan and Hanshi over the years in to denote him as the Senior Instructor for his dojo.

His Mexican seminars are to students of a scuba diving buddy that has a TKD school in Cozumel.

Let's talk about "Tokubetsu Karate". Once again directly from his website ...
"Hanshi Lacy developed his own style of karate that is recognized by the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame, known as Tokubetsu Karate. Tokubetsu uses techniques learned through Karate, Hapkido, and other martial arts to form a practical real-life self-defense style. We focus on close encounter fighting, uilizing joint locks, strikes, chokes, takedowns and arm bars."

Per an ATA TKD 3rd dan Black Belt, this appears to be a direct copy of the ATA Self-Defense program. Some of the name were changed to Japanese, but the moves were the same.

White belts regularly spar full contact with black belts with little to no protection. The white belts do get injured due to lack of control from the black belts.